4906.0 - Personal Safety, Australia, 2012  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/12/2013   
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Contents >> Stalking

STALKING

The 2012 PSS collected information from men and women aged 18 years and over about their experience of stalking. Stalking involves various behaviours, such as loitering and following, which the respondent believed were being undertaken with the intent to harm or frighten them. To be classified as stalking more than one type of behaviour had to occur, or the same type of behaviour had to occur on more than one occasion. For more information see Endnote 1.

Where a person had experienced an episode of stalking, further information was collected about their most recent episode of stalking by a male and their most recent episode of stalking by a female. Where a person had experienced stalking by a male and stalking by a female, they are counted separately for stalking by a male and by a female, but are only counted once in the aggregated total.


LIFETIME EXPERIENCE OF STALKING

Overall, women were more likely to have experienced an episode of stalking than men. An estimated 19% of women (1,613,400) and 7.8% of men (663,800) aged 18 years and over had experienced an episode of stalking during their lifetime (refer Table 34).

Graph Image for PROPORTION OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO EXPERIENCED STALKING DURING THEIR LIFETIME, By sex of perpetrator(a)

Footnote(s): (a) Components are not able be added together to produce a total. Where a person has experienced stalking by both a male and a female, they are counted separately for each sex of stalker but are counted only once in the aggregated total.

Source(s): Personal Safety, Australia



Women were more likely to have experienced stalking by a male than by a female. Of the 1,613,400 women aged 18 years and over who had experienced an episode of stalking during their lifetime, 94% (1,524,000) of these women had been stalked by a male.

There was no statistically significant difference between men who were stalked by a male and men who were stalked by a female during their lifetime. Refer to Endnote 2 for an explanation of significance testing.


STALKING IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

Women were also more likely than men to have experienced an episode of stalking in the 12 months prior to survey. In the 12 months prior to the survey, an estimated 4.1% of all women aged 18 years and over (353,800) and 2.2% of all men aged 18 years and over (184,100) had experienced an episode of stalking (refer Table 34).

Sex of perpetrator

Women were more likely to have experienced stalking by a male than by a female. Of the 353,800 women aged 18 years and over who had experienced an episode of stalking in the 12 months prior to the survey, 89% (315,700) of these women had been stalked by a male.

There was no statistically significant difference between men who were stalked by a male and men who were stalked by a female in the 12 months prior to the survey. Refer to Endnote 2 for an explanation of significance testing.


FURTHER INFORMATION

Only broad summary information about stalking has been presented in this release. Further details of the information collected in the 2012 PSS about this topic are provided in the Data item list. Additional information may be made available by request, on a fee for service basis, through the ABS Information Consultancy, or on the Confidentialised Unit Record File which is expected to be released in March 2014.

ENDNOTES

Endnote 1 - The definition of stalking is based on State and Territory legislation. It is defined by a range of behaviours which the respondent believed were undertaken with the intent to harm or frighten them. Behaviours include: loitering outside a person's home, workplace or place of leisure or social activities; following or watching a person; interfering with their property; giving or leaving offensive material; telephoning or sending mail or contacting a person electronically with the intent to harm or frighten them. In order to be classified as stalking more than one type of stalking behaviour had to occur, or the same type of behaviour had to occur on more than one occasion. Where a person had experienced more than one episode of stalking by a male/by a female, details were collected only about their most recent episode of stalking by a male and most recent episode of stalking by a female. For further details refer to the Glossary.

Endnote 2 - All differences and changes mentioned have been tested for statistical significance with a 95% level of confidence that there is a real difference in the two populations being tested. To determine whether there is a statistical difference between any other two estimates, significance testing should be undertaken. For further information, refer to the Technical Note.



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